The Anointing at Bethany

⁶ While Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon^(A) the leper,^{[a] 7} a woman approached him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume. She poured it on his head as he was reclining at the table. ⁸ When the disciples^(B) saw it, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. ⁹ “This might have been sold for a great deal and given to the poor.”

¹⁰ Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a noble thing for me. ¹¹ You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.^{(C) 12} By pouring this perfume on my body, she has prepared me for burial. ¹³ Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel^(D) is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

² So^(A) they gave a dinner for him there; Martha^(B) was serving them, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him. ³ Then Mary took a pound of perfume, pure and expensive nard, anointed Jesus’s feet, and wiped his feet with her hair.^(C) So the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

⁴ Then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot^(D) (who was about to betray him), said, ⁵ “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii^[a](E) and given to the poor?” ⁶ He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief.^(F) He was in charge of the money-bag and would steal part of what was put in it.

⁷ Jesus answered, “Leave her alone; she has kept it for the day of my burial.^{(G) 8} For you always have the poor with you,^(H) but you do not always have me.”